How Long Does an Eviction Stay on Your Credit Report?

If you have been evicted from a residence, you may be wondering how long an eviction will stay on your credit report and affect your chances of getting a home or used car loan. Eviction can occur for a variety of reasons, from failure to pay rent to no cause at all. How long an eviction will stay on your credit report is determined by the type of eviction.

Different Types of Eviction

Landlords can evict tenants with 45 days of notice (or 30 days in some states) if they wish to as long as they do not have a lease that covers that duration of time. They can also evict tenants for creating waste, being a nuisance or causing damage to the property beyond what is expected for ordinary wear-and-tear. Breaking the terms of a rental agreement, such as by letting another person stay in the unit without the landlord’s consent, is also cause for eviction, as is a failure to pay rent.

How Can an Eviction Affect Your Credit Report?

Evictions only affect a credit report if it is actually reported to the credit bureau, which the great majority of evictions are not. If the landlord files an unlawful detainer then the eviction will be reported to the credit bureau, and this is only if the landlord has already successfully won a small claims court case against you for the amount of money that you owed in back rent. If you resolve the situation before the case gets to this point or if your landlord never chooses to pursue the case in court you will not have a note on your credit report.

How Does an Eviction Affect Your Credit Report?

If your landlord does pursue legal action against you and reports the eviction to the three credit bureaus the following will happen:

It will stay on your report for up to seven years.

It will significantly affect your credit score. Public notice items usually affect a credit score fairly significantly, though the amount by which they affect it drops off over time.

Being evicted doesn’t have to damage your chances of buying a car for the next seven years however because here at HeartlandAutoLoans.com we offer a guaranteed auto financing program. This means everyone is accepted regardless of what your credit report says and what your credit score is.